Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible

Announcer: The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals presents the timeless teaching of Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Many people are almost shocked to learn that there are more promises in the Bible, where God has definitely said that He will not answer prayer, than there are promises where He has said that He will answer prayer. And many people are even more shocked to learn that what we might call the favorable promises are restricted to a very small portion of the human race.

One of the commonest errors in Christendom is to think that everything in the Bible is addressed to everybody. That, of course, is simply not so.

Announcer: Over a half a century ago, the late Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse, then pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, saw the need to spread God's word beyond the hearing of his local congregation. He started the weekly radio outreach which has become known as Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.

The application of God's word as taught by Dr. Barnhouse is as relevant today as when he first taught over the radio airwaves decades ago. The message we will be featuring on today's edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is entitled Unanswered Prayer.

When it comes to prayer, believers can be like a child who asks his parents every night to have ice cream and cookies for dinner. When his parents say no every night, he may start to think they don't love him. The child does not realize that his parents want what is best for him, including healthy food instead of sweets for dinner. Rather than giving us what we think is best, God loves us and answers our prayers according to His perfect will.

The scripture text for this edition of Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is Romans chapter 1. We're looking at verses 9 and 10. Here again is Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse with a message entitled Unanswered Prayer.

Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse: Through the Lord Jesus Christ, we come unto Thee, our Father and our God and in the Holy Spirit. We thank Thee that we can approach Thee directly with boldness into the holiest of all to be received by Thee. Speak to each listening heart in this hour.

And use to Thine honor and glory the word that goes forth. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.

There's a charming story of a little boy who was overheard praying for a pair of skates for Christmas. When the moment came and the last package had been opened and there were no skates, someone asked him why God had not answered his prayer. The boy reflected for a moment and replied, "He did answer. He said no."

Now there can be no doubt that no is an answer as well as yes. But if you think over your own thought in the matter and the current use of words, you will discover that for the most part, people think of an answered prayer as one where the request was granted. And in cases where the request is not granted, we call the prayer unanswered.

The problem of unanswered prayer has been a great one and it has exercised the souls of many true believers. We have before us a biblical story today in our first chapter of Romans where we are studying in the first paragraph. And in this story, one of the greatest Christians of all centuries prayed definitely for a certain thing and he was not answered.

We've been studying together the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. And in the first paragraphs of that Epistle, we find that Paul had been greatly desiring to come to Rome, for he knew that none of the disciples had been in Rome as yet, even though the church was founded there. And he even calls God to witness in verse 9 that, "Without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if by any means, now at length, I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you."

And in the 13th verse he adds, "Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, but I was hindered hitherto." Now here is the evidence in his own letter that some of Paul's prayers remained unanswered and that his well-laid plans did not come to fruition.

And since the problem is universal, it is worthwhile pausing to ask two great questions: Why do prayers remain unanswered? And why do plans fail? The answer, first of all, lies in the fact that the Bible teaching about the subject of prayer has been sadly misunderstood.

One of the commonest errors in Christendom is to think that everything in the Bible is addressed to everybody. That, of course, is simply not so. There is an offer, a free offer of salvation, and that offer is as wide as humanity. There is a command, a command to repent, and that command is as universal as mankind.

But there is no word of comfort in time of bereavement, no word of consolation for a time of sorrow, no word of strength for a time of weakness for the person who has not been born again through faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. And there is, of course, no prayer promise made to the non-Christian.

The words, "Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find," were spoken to believers and not to unbelievers. Even the prayer commonly called the Lord's Prayer was prefaced by the qualifying clause, "When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven."

With this single paragraph of warning, I must leave that phase of the subject, for I wish to set forth for Christians why their prayers remain unanswered and why some of their highest desires are brought to naught and their finest plans fail most pitiably.

Our passage does not deal with the prayers of a pagan, or the prayers of a Judas, or the prayers of an apostate, or the prayers of people who are mere church members without having been born again. Our passage deals with the unanswered prayers of Paul the Apostle.

It was Paul who prayed prayers before which the heavens were silent. It was Paul who thought and planned the accomplishment of projects which came to naught. It was Paul whose spiritual wishes were unfulfilled. Furthermore, there can be no question of the fact that the prayers were eminently spiritual.

If he had been asking something amiss that he might consume it upon his own lusts, we might understand why the answer was withheld. The prayers that remained unanswered and the plans that failed were the following: He prayed and planned that he might go to Rome, that his journey might be a prosperous one.

The purpose was that he might impart unto that young and unshepherded church some spiritual gift in order that they might be established in the faith, and in order that he might grow spiritually through the interaction of their mutual faith. Furthermore, he pointed out to them that he had been praying thus for a long time, and wanting to come in order that his ministry might find fruitfulness among them.

He then confesses that his plans had failed up to that moment and that he had been hindered in the fulfillment of his desire. Still further, we know from the Book of the Acts that his prayer was never answered as he prayed it, and that when a part of the prayer was answered much later, it was answered in a way far removed from anything that man would have chosen or anticipated.

Now we can go around the problem from a merely human point of view and there's no answer to it. In fact, in all the commentators that I have seen, I have found but one suggestion of a silver lining in all the dark cloud of the broken projects and the hard hindrances of Paul's plans that had been conceived and shapen in prayer.

One man points out that if Paul had had his prayers answered and had gone to Rome at that early date, he would never have written this Epistle and that we would have been the poorer thereby. Now that's true, and we can certainly thank God for the drawing out of Paul's soul for that little group of believers that led him to pen the mighty truths which we have before us.

We cannot but think, however, that the Holy Spirit would have seen to it that we received the Epistle in some fashion or other, for the truths are the basic truths of Christianity. This may be said without the slightest qualification and certainly without the faintest fear of contradiction that a Christian life nourished on the Epistle to the Romans will never lack the three great requisites of clear perception, strong conviction, and definite usefulness.

God would have given us this truth, even though it might have been addressed to a church in Gaul or in Spain. The simple fact is that Paul, moved by a set of spiritual desires which were correct and God-given, went on to a self-formed plan based on these desires, and little by little prayed for that which was his own will instead of for that which was the will of the Father.

The Bible teaches positively and categorically that any prayer that is in accordance with the plan of God must be answered. We read in John's first epistle, "And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him."

Therefore, we must conclude that it is totally impossible for a Christian to pray a prayer that is within the will of God without that prayer being answered. It follows just as certainly and logically that any prayer that is not answered cannot be according to the will of God.

I've already pointed out in a previous study that the promise of Christ which says, "If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it," does not give us the right to ask for anything that we please in the circumference of our sinful will and desires. To ask something in the name of Christ means to ask something that is consistent with the holiness of His being and the righteousness of His purposes.

Another verse that is frequently twisted to mean something far removed from the scriptural teaching is that which says, "If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything, it shall be done." Matthew 18:19. How often do men interpret it as though they could imagine something that they would like to have, and then get someone else to join them in praying for the same thing in order to make the second who would agree to the request.

Now such is not even the remotest meaning of the text. How many fantastic things have been prayed for by two persons who came to what they call agreement, and the Lord most certainly did not heed their request. Perhaps we can best understand the true meaning of the idea by calling attention to a common happening in our daily lives.

Have you ever been in a group where two people started to say the same thing at the same time without pre-arrangement? Well, the Greek word in our text refers to something even more rare than the occurrence of the same idea being spoken simultaneously by two people. It might be paraphrased, "If two of you shall begin to sing the same tune in the same key at the same time, it is spiritual harmony."

A good many years ago, I saw in my audience one Sunday evening, Mr. George TB Davis, a well-known leader in Christian work, who has been responsible for circulating several millions of copies of the New Testament in different lands and to different groups. I made a mental note that there was something I wanted to talk over with him, but he slipped out without my seeing him.

I went to my home after the service, and I sat down and wrote him a note, telling him I had missed him and outlining an idea that had come to me and in which we might collaborate. At the end, I put a postscript saying that I was going out at midnight to mail the letter so that he would have it in the morning where he lived, the YMCA, a few blocks away. He should then telephone me.

But in the morning, when I was opening my mail at breakfast time, there was a letter from Mr. Davis, telling me that he had not stopped to meet me after the service because so many others were speaking to me, but that the Lord had laid it on his heart to write me about a certain matter in which we might collaborate. It was exactly the same idea about which I had written him.

He also added a postscript that he was going out to mail his letter so that I might have it in the morning. A few moments later, my telephone rang and he was on the phone to express his astonishment and joy that our similar letters had crossed in the mail during the night. I pointed out to him the true meaning of the verse, "If two of you shall agree."

And told him that here was a real illustration of it in our lives, and that we could be absolutely sure that the Holy Spirit was the author of that idea and that we could expect its immediate fulfillment. And so it came to pass. No, we do not have a right to pray singly or collectively for just anything that might cross our whimsical minds.

I've heard prayers in public meetings that were puerile and even foolish to the highest degree, and which were an offense even to the human intelligence, let alone the divine intelligence. I remember once during the early days of our participation in the late war, I was in a meeting in a certain city in the Midwest, and there were perhaps a dozen ministers on the platform.

One was asked to lead in prayer. He began to pray, and soon he was praying in a fashion so preposterous that I opened my eyes to stare at the man to see what manner of personality would so run at the mouth with mere human drivel. He was praying something like this, "And oh, God, we pray Thee to somehow tonight. Yes, Lord, tonight."

And he had that high-pitched tone, that, "Somehow tonight, Thou will convert Hitler and convert Tojo and convert Mussolini, tonight, Lord. Yes, tonight. And that this terrible war will be over tomorrow and our boys may begin to come home." And as I stared at him, I wondered how many people realized that this was not prayer at all, but the ranting of an ignorant man who simply knew nothing about the Bible doctrine of prayer and was exploding in a lot of wishful oratory in a public place, but oratory that was based on nothing.

Certainly the Holy Spirit was not leading him in any way, and it was not prayer in the spirit. It was bombast in the flesh. Perhaps the whole matter will become clearer if we set forth one or two facts about the nature of God and His eternal plan. God is omniscient. That means that He knows all things.

God knows how many drops of water are going to fall upon this earth next year in the rain and snow. He knows how many leaves there'll be upon all the trees of the earth. And no two of them will be alike. He is infinite in His creation, and He is infinite in His knowledge. God has always known all things.

If He ever learned one single fact, it would mean that up until that moment He had been in ignorance and therefore had been imperfect. Therefore, all that comes to pass is known of God and is within the bounds of His permissive will. If anyone asks if we are teaching blind fatalism, we deny it with horror.

The difference between the doctrine of fatalism and the doctrine of the sovereignty of the eternal and all-wise God is that fatalism holds that all things are coming to pass according to an advanced plan of blind force, while we hold that everything that comes to pass is in accordance with the eternal plan of an all-holy, all-loving heavenly Father.

Now, how does this doctrine work in connection with human prayer and human plans? Certainly God knows, for example, who's going to die next month and next year. If one of our loved ones is in that number, we may pray the Lord to spare him if it be His will, but if he will be taken to heaven at the time that God has appointed for him.

Our prayers are not going to change what God knows is going to happen. Is prayer then worthless? God forbid. Prayer so changes our whole attitude toward God and all the events of life that the believer is forever calm, satisfied, and even joyful.

Let me set forth the whole matter by an illustration. We will suppose the case of a man who loves violin music. He has the means to buy for himself a very fine violin, and he buys the very finest radio obtainable. He also builds up a library of the great musical scores so that he is able to take any piece that is announced on the radio and put it on his music stand so that he can play along with the orchestra.

The announcer says that Mr. Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra are going to play Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The man in his home puts that symphony on his stand, tunes his violin with what he hears coming from the orchestra. The music that comes from the radio we might call foreordained.

Ormandy is going to follow the score just as Beethoven wrote it. The man in his living room starts to scratch away at the first violin part. He misses beats, he loses his place, he finds it again, he breaks a string, he stops to fix it. The music goes on and on. The man finds the place again, plays on after his fashion to the end of the symphony.

The announcer names the next work that is to be played and the fiddler puts that number on his rack. Day after week after month after year, he finds his pleasure in scraping his fiddle along with the violins in the great orchestras. Their music is determined in advance. What he must do is to learn to play in their tempo, in their key, and to follow the score as it has been written in advance.

If he decides that he wants to play Yankee Doodle when the orchestra is in the midst of a Brahms number, there's going to be dissonance and discord in the man's house, but not in the Academy of Music. After some years of this, the man may be a rather creditable violin player and may have learned to submit himself utterly to the scores that are written and to follow the programs as played. Harmony and joy comes from this submission and this cooperation.

The man might even get a place in an orchestra sometime. And so it is with the plan of God. The plan of God is rolling toward us, unfolding day by day as He has planned it before the foundation of the world. There are those who fight against it and who must ultimately be cast into outer darkness because God will not have those who proudly resist Him to be in His heaven.

This cannot be tolerated anymore than the authorities would permit a man to bring his own violin into the Academy of Music and start to play Shostakovich when the program called for Bach. The score of God's plan is set forth in the Bible, and in no place else. Any attempt to change the Bible by tradition is the attempt to edit Beethoven and Bach and make it in modern jazz.

In the measure that I learn what the score is in the word of God and in the measure that I submit myself to it and seek to live in accordance with all that is therein set forth, I shall find myself in joy and in harmony with God and His plan. If I set myself to fight against it or disagree with that which comes forth, there can be no peace in my heart and life.

If in the living room of my heart I seek to play a tune that is not the melody that the Lord has for me, there can be nothing but dissonance. Prayer is learning to play the same tune that the eternal plan of God calls for, and to do that which is in harmony with the will of the eternal composer and the author of all that there is of true harmony in life and living.

When Paul told the people at Rome that he had been praying God that he might come to Rome, but that his prayers had not been answered, and that his plans had failed and his purposes had been blocked, he was not saying that he was living contrary to the will of God. The purpose of his prayer was a good purpose. He was like the man who knew the musical score and was trying to play it, but his E-string would not stay at its pitch, and the melody came out of harmony with the truth.

Paul prayed for a prosperous journey to come to visit them. Years passed, and he finally came, not by a prosperous journey, but by a perilous journey, fraught with danger and shipwreck. In the midst of it all, Paul was in great peace. He came as a prisoner in chains, but at peace. He was sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as he told the Corinthian church.

Only one thing mattered to him: that he might be yielded to God and active for Him. He was a mere human being, so he sometimes prayed off-key, but the Lord knew how eager he was to play the right key, and He smiled upon him and gave him joy. From a man's point of view, it looked as though his plans were a wreck, but Paul was not running around in nervous frustration. He was living in the totally relaxed life of the man submitted to the will of God.

There's a great conclusion that can be drawn from all this for the life of everyone who listens to these words in this hour. If you are not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a rebel against the heavenly music, and you can never be admitted to where the Lord's orchestra will play. Only those who will submit themselves to the principle of the sovereignty of God, which begins at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, can be cleansed of their sin and brought into His presence.

To those of you who do believe in the eternal Godhead and in the salvation that He has provided, submit yourselves to Him. Tell Him that once for all you wish to surrender to the pervading principle of His Lordship and His right to rule in your life in everything. Then study to find His will for you.

Whatever you can see a simple passage that your fingers can negotiate easily, play it for all your worth. That will lead you away from the open rebellion of sin and into the paths of holiness. When you come to a question of life that seems to be all sharps and flats, beyond your powers, look to Him and say, "Lord, Thou knowest my heart. I certainly want to remain on the key. Take me over this. And if I hit only each third note, or if I fall behind or get ahead, or if I play a wrong note, forgive me, Lord, and give me the strength to go on. And the great and yearning desire to please Thee."

And when you do just that, you will find that the heavenly Father will look upon you with divine pride, even as an earthly father may be filled with joy at the finger exercises of a budding pianist. Other people may be bored, but the parents are not bored when their child shows the early steps of progress. The Father knows the heart.

And we rest in the fact that the heavenly Father knows our heart. And even though at the best we're unprofitable servants, He will find it in His heart to say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." We do not know what is in the future, but we do know that our Lord is in our future. He who created us and came to redeem us is the one who loves us.

We need never be frightened at the future which contains the Lord Jesus Christ. Even though there be wars and rumors of war, He has told us that we are not to be troubled. Surely you can trust the man that died for you. If you're not a believer in Christ, would you be willing to pray this? "Oh God, if there be any God."

Well, you say, "Surely I can pray that." Well, if you're honest, and if you say, "Oh God, if there be any God," then continue. "Show me if Christ is Thy son. And if Thou does show me that Christ is Thy son, I'll follow Him, no matter where it takes me." Now, you have to be honest, for if you pray that, God will show you in your heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and immediately He'll reveal some little thing in your life and say, "Now you must stop that. You must turn away from that."

And if you hold onto it, then God will give you no further revelation. But if you come to the place where you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and say, "Yes, He is my Savior, and I'm going to follow Him." And if you follow Him in the first lesson, He'll lead you on to the second lesson.

You who are Christians, that's where you must take up the point. If you believe that Jesus Christ died for you and have been born again through faith in His blood, then go to the book, search the scriptures, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth.

And if you hold onto the word of God and desire that God shall bless you, if you seek and find the will of God, then you can lay hold upon it, put your finger upon the promise and say, "Oh God, Thou art not a liar. Fulfill Thy word." And our God and Father, we pray Thee that the Holy Spirit shall take this simple message to many hearts.

And that those who've been perhaps in doubt because of unanswered prayer, may understand the rules in this day and submit themselves to them, that they may know Thee and follow Thee and that Thou shall bless their heart. Hear us, our God and Father. Give restlessness to any unsaved, and upon all Thine own may Thy grace, Thy mercy, and Thy peace abide. And unto Thee be the glory both now and until Jesus come and forever. Amen.

Announcer: Are your prayers out of harmony with the sovereign will of God? Studying the Bible and knowing God through His word can get your prayer life in tune with God's plan. We hope you have benefited from today's message entitled Unanswered Prayer. Listen to additional Bible teaching by Dr. Barnhouse via the internet. Visit us at AllianceNet.org.

An audio copy of today's teaching is also available by calling us toll-free. 1-800-488-1888. Today's message again is entitled Unanswered Prayer, or simply request message number R1-11. We would also like to make available to you a free copy of our booklet entitled Temptation and How to Meet It.

Temptation comes to us by the world, the flesh, and the devil and pulls us away from God toward sin and disobedience. How can we effectively fight against its powerful influence? This free booklet traces the history of temptation, identifies its various sources and manifestations, and outlines the biblical strategies for effective dealing with temptation in whatever form it takes.

Ask for your free copy of Temptation and How to Meet It when you call or write. Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible is the radio ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We exist to promote a biblical understanding and worldview. Drawing upon the insight and wisdom of Reformation theologians from decades and even centuries gone by, we seek to provide contemporary Christian teaching which will equip believers to understand and meet the challenges and opportunities of our time and place.

The Alliance also produces the radio broadcast The Bible Study Hour, featuring the teachings of the late Dr. James Montgomery Boice, and Every Last Word, featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Philip Graham Ryken. For a full list of stations carrying our programs, visit our website, AllianceNet.org.

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Write to us at Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Box 2000, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Visit us online at AllianceNet.org. Thanks for listening. Join us again next time for more classic teaching on Dr. Barnhouse and the Bible.